Teeth, toxins and allergies.

[crow]

Got any advanced dental work in that big mouth? Read on...

All my upper front teeth were a bridge, stuck to the stumps of four remaining teeth.
Behind the bridge, and supporting all the crowns, was a cobalt/nickel/chrome alloy, along with two titanium posts.
A few days ago, after the bridge failed, my dentist removed the wreckage, accompanied by much pain and angst.
He cemented in an acrylic temporary bridge, until the new one was ready to attach.
The very same evening, I noticed that - if I discounted the residual pain - I was feeling rather good, and remarkably free from allergies, that have plagued me for several years.

Two days later, I feel twenty years younger. No sign of allergies, which had become a permanent fact of life.
Energy to spare. Euphoric, even. Nothing hurts, anywhere, apart from the fading dentist-induced kind.

After a bit of research, I discover that some of us suffer heavy metal allergies, with nickel being the most common, and cobalt a close second. The symptoms are many, but all of them were things I recognized.

Allergies like this not only make your life miserable, but can develop into autoimmune diseases, and even cancer.

Got implants? A bridge? Crowns? Thinking of going that route? Quit eating sugar, instead. And/or insist on gold, and nothing but, in any dental architecture.

Like you, or most of you, I was never allergic to anything for a long, long time, other than to soap, which I never use 
So, although this may not apply to you yet, one day it may. Store the information away.
You may enjoy subjecting yourselves to deathmetal, but there are other kinds of deathmetals you would do well to avoid.

[Imposition]

Thanks Crow, and good to hear you've done away with something that caused so much negativity.

[trystero]

Sorry this dentistry heavy metal stuff is quackery, famous quackery, this is the second time it has come up on this forum in a couple of months. Is there something about *insert term for fringe rightists* that attracts people to such things? I mean the bridge being gone is perfectly good explanation for feeling better, and especially for feeling better in the face (I suppose that would account for the allergies)! Again, no matter the metal components, the actual structure being removed easily explains everything.

Please dont waste your money on gold (I mean, we have non-metal dental composite for one). Avoid dentists that diagnose heavy metal toxicity. For some reason, in the continental US at least, there are a lot of dentists and maxillofacial guys who will add a moneymaking pseudomedical scheme to their legit practice. This is why you can find a lot of material online regarding this, but suffice it to say I have never come across any that would cause anything but alarm on cursory reading. You can tell what has been written for marks and what is written for genuine patients and professionals. At least one reason this works is the public perception of how powerful modern medicine is vs. the reality (its powerful but people have science fiction ideas!).

I hate making these posts.

Edit: To explain a bit further, it may be possible you have an allergy to cobalt/nickel but I would doubt it. The manifestation of these is not the same as what is colloquially called `allergies` (sneezing, stuffy face etc.). If you were allergic to these metals, the place you would see a reaction would be your mouth, which could possibly develop sores or something related. Whatever the problem is it would be local to where the metal is. On the other hand your upper teeth are right under the maxillary sinus, the hollow space in your cheeks that fills up with mucus/gunk when you have a cold/allergy. Sudden relief is slightly suspicious to me, that sounds like an abscess got drained or something, I hope you have a very good dentist.

[metalcore]

After a bit of research, I discover that some of us suffer heavy metal allergies, with nickel being the most common, and cobalt a close second.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nickel-allergy/DS00826

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/nickel-jewelry-allergy

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/25/health/healthful-eatings-dark-side-nickel-allergy.html

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/753985

[trystero]

I am very interested in your allergies crow. What are/were they?

[crow]

Not being a medic, I lack medical knowledge. I am, however, super-sensitive, and the keenest of observers.
It may be that this sudden allergy relief is coincidental, but what we generally term as coincidence can often be a hard connection that is not easily identified.
I am mystified by events, but they remain events. I report them, out of interest.

Symptoms? Sneezing, coughing, thin clear mucus by the bucketload, asthma, wheezing, sore eyes, insomnia, buzzing inside the head, dizziness, weakness, exhaustion, blurry vision, irritability...
If you had all this crap going on, and suddenly it vanished, you'd probably mention it, too.
I lost half my hair shortly after having that bridge installed. Abscesses followed in the supporting teeth. Sore and puffy gums...
A regular barrel of laughs.

[trystero]

You are very right to mention it, and I agree completely about coincidence. It is certainly no coincidence that you got better. Also, I forgot to say, that sounds terrible. I knew you had teeth problems but fucking hell.

I will have to take my post back, that actually could be a systemic nickel allergy, although just having the infection there explains the symptoms too.

[crow]

Golly, Trystero: that's the most generous comment I've ever seen you make.
My wife and I are bug-eyed in unison 

But I have noticed that people in the medical profession all seem to be somewhat odd in their responses to what-is when it seems in conflict with what they know.
My own doctor, for example, reliably hits the roof if I mention reading anything about whatever my current condition is, on the internet. He even reliably brushes aside any actual symptoms I may report. Still, he is actually a very pleasant chap, and so I am more than happy to endure his spikiness. We have interesting conversations about all kinds of things, and I always ask him what I can do for him, rather than demanding to know what he can do for me.

What can I do for you, Doctor Trystero?

[dead last]

Thankfully, I don't have any serious dental problems (except for missing a tooth that I broke on a microphone *devil horns*). But I surely do empathize with allergy sufferers.

I'm actually nervous about passing on my genes because I'm painfully allergic to GRASS and TREES of which there are so MANY. To subject another human to such things would make me feel unbearably guilty. It would not be so bad if I was one of the many people who could feel indifferently toward grass and trees, but hell, I may as well be allergic to coffee, sex, and guitars.

Very good to hear that your reaction have let up, crow. Hopefully it's a permanent improvement.

[trystero]

But I have noticed that people in the medical profession all seem to be somewhat odd in their responses to what-is when it seems in conflict with what they know.

I suppose it is a hyper-response to a certain kind of patient that thinks google, wikipedia and online forums are more trustworthy than medicine. I try to not do that because you can learn some surprising things just hearing people out. Still, sometimes you get people who waste all of your time and that of other patients with utter nonsense.

Then again, there are doctors who are just too full of themselves. Especially doctors who act like scientists, these are my mortal enemies. Most doctors learn to trust patients over anything else very early in practice, others stay like how they were when they just left medical school. Full of `science`, 0 practicality.

[crow]

Medicine is one of those grey-areas, for me, regarding my stance towards the downside of modernity, as it contrasts the ages of the neolithic.
There can be no doubt that in many ways, modern medicine is light-years ahead of any tribal hocus-pocus.
But modernity, rife as it is with dishonesty, the desire to make a buck, and religious devotion to science, is almost as damaging to overall health, as the status-quo of the stone age.

Lorazepam ftw 

[Saif al-Malik]

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing:

http://www.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/nickel.html

It is good to expose quackery, but certain things may not be as outrageous as we think.  There has been a long debate about the safety of dental amalgam as much as about its successors.  Every person has different tolerances and abilities, however, with some people being able to be just fine with implants dental or not, while other people do not fare well.